Using traditional product packaging in e-commerce can hurt the bottom line. For many companies, the practice triggers unnecessary, counterproductive costs several percent of their total cost of goods sold (COGS).

Chinese robotics company TuSimple plans to use port automation as a proving ground for over-the-road autonomous trucks. By the end of this year, it will have 20 of its self-driving vehicles carrying containers around the port of Caofeidian, China.

In a warehouse on the outskirts of Indonesia’s capital, supervisors at e-commerce company Lazada use bikes or electric scooters to zip around a floor the size of four soccer fields, where up to 3,000 staff pack and dispatch goods around the clock.

Target Corp. is testing a new distribution strategy aimed at speeding up its restocking and making the retailer more nimble at stores and online as it competes with rivals like Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.

Investors sure like the idea that Sears is looking beyond its struggling retail business to drum up new sources of revenue and places to sell products under its own brands.